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As a city with a population in excess of 1,000 persons, the City of Wyoming has been included in a statewide drought response order.  Council voted last week that citizens on city water must not use water on their lawns, etc. until further notice.  People with private wells are not impacted.

The city council heard from the public works acting director that Wyoming needs to cut 281,000 gallons per day under the drought response formula.  He added that the level of the city well is down some nine or 10 feet which is concerning.  The city has halted park watering.

The fine is $25 daily for violations.

Children may play outdoors in sprinklers, etc and you may “hand water” areas.  For new sod and seed establishment there is a temporary permit to water, which needs to be displayed.  Contact city hall for details about this.

In an aside, the public works department reported water meter change outs are about 40 percent completed.

The Wyoming City Hall staff will be back up to full strength by the end of this month,  with a hire okayed by city council last week. The Assistant City Administrator post will be filled by Grant McFarland, most recently with the City of Maple Plain. He was approved out of 17 applicants, and starts at $35.53 hourly. 

Council also brought a building official on board, voting to hire City of Brooklyn Park staffer Garrett Heinz, at $31.79 hourly.

On the topic of personnel, the council went through an updated policy/handbook that now includes conditions of employment regarding cannabis use.  

Members of the council thanked Administrator Robb Linwood and department heads for keeping up with the many changes that the legislative approval of recreational cannabis has triggered.  City Attorney Tom Loonan explained that physical testing for cannabis in the body or bloodstream is still being perfected.  For supervisors to enforce policy, their detection skills on what to look for in performance and behavior. and documentation, there will be help from League of MN Cities.

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